Live It Up
by CaptainSkittlez
Summary: IrvinexSelphie. One Shot. Main character death. Just a moment between Irvine and Selphie, intended to be cute but evolved into something a bit sadder.


IrvinexSelphie One-Shot, set a few years after the game. Major character death, implied SelphiexSquall. Don't like it, don't read it.

_**Live It Up**_

It was past ten, probably crawling closer towards eleven and she was sitting in the quad, her knees pressed up against her chest and her chin resting on them. The sunshine yellow dress she wore was ever present, and blue jeans accompanied them to keep back the evening chill.

Her eyes were brimmed with tears and she bit her lip softly, staring down at a coat in front of her, feeling all the memories that she could remember that coat in. It was deep rooted in her mind and she loved the man who once wore it, because he was like her big brother. Maybe more.

A hand touched her shoulder and she looked up at who it was, seeing the familiar violet eyes hooked into a sad smile. She smiled back, albeit half heartedly and he sat down beside her, slipping his arm gently around her shoulders and tugging her head softly into his shoulder. She buried her face into his shoulder and inhaled the scent of his cologne and duster, her own petite arms wrapping around his waist.

_How can you see looking through those tears  
Don't you know you're worth your weight in gold  
I can't believe that you're alone in here  
Let me warm your hands against the cold_

A close encounter with a hardhearted man  
Who never gave half of what he got  
Has made you wish you'd never been born  
That's a shame cause you got the lot.

His voice cracked slightly as he opened his lips, and the Galbadian accent that was so easily used to charm the girls rolled out from his lips. "He was a good man," he said sincerely, that hint of despair hidden behind his words. She knew that he missed him. She hiccupped and shook her head fiercely.

"You can't say that," he murmured into his shoulder, and his brow arched in confusion. She seemed to read his feelings from the air and she bit her lip, smiling in a wistful, foolish way, remember something long off. "Years ago… When we first met you again…We thought Seifer was dead." Irvine blinked, remembering the news of the Knight's 'execution'.

"He said that he would never have anyone talk about him in the past tense," she continued, and Irvine remembered Quistis mentioning the exact same thing during the board meeting Xu had called to inform them of the Commander's passing. "He didn't want to be… just a memory."

_Hey yeah you with the sad face  
Come up to my place and live it up  
You beside the dance floor  
What do you cry for let's live it up_

If you smiled the walls would fall down  
On all the people in this pickup joint  
But if you laughed you'd level this town  
Hey lonely girl that's just the point

The cowboy tilted up his black hat and thoughtfully considered Squall. He was more than met the eye, at all times. When he had helped Irvine over-come the fact that he was pointing a gun at Matron; when he had welcomed he, Selphie, Quistis and Zell back from the mission at the missile base, trapped inside the Iron Clad; when he had climbed out of escape pod as he and Squall flew from the impending Lunar Cry to save Rinoa. Everything the man did had been veiled to hide his feelings.

"You loved him," Irvine said matter-of-factly, looking down at the petite angel that was curled around him. She stiffened at the words, then nodded softly and curled harder into his side. "Do you—"

"Don't." She cut him off, closing her eyes tightly and trying to force away the words she knew were coming. It was obvious what he was going to ask. She was surprised when he relented.

_Just answer me the question why  
You stand alone by the phone in the corner and cry_

How can you see looking through those tears  
Don't you know you're worth your weight in gold  
I can't believe that you're alone in here  
Let me warm your hands against the cold.

"How's Rinoa taking it?" She asked after a pause, and Irvine sighed softly. No one was taking it well. Zell had battered through everything in the training centre, then smashed through everything in Balamb Forest, fighting his way down the most dangerous paths to his home town where he collapsed in his Ma's house. Quistis had locked herself into her office and poured over paperwork to figure out what to do after the commander's death. Xu had been the most level headed, but even she found it hard to cope.

Irvine had travelled to Esthar to inform Laguna personally, then Ellone. Rinoa… She hadn't cried, or protested or anything that would have been expected… She knew before the rest of them did. She had just collapsed in her class room and shook violently, until Dr. Kadowaki carried her to the infirmary.

"She's still not talking," Irvine said, turning his head skyward and looking at the slowly turning ring high above. He didn't know what had happened to Rinoa, but he assumed the grief had forced her mind to shut down. "Did you manage to find… him?"

Selphie nodded. "He took it pretty badly. Didn't even say anything, just left the orphanage and killed stuff." Irvine scoffed, nodding softly. Yep, that was Seifer all over. When in doubt, kill things. "Irvy?"

The nickname made him stop, and his throat seized up. His heart was beating faster. That was her effect on him though, four little letters from his childhood, the childhood he never forgot like the rest of them. "Y-yeah?"

"Don't… Don't you ever leave, okay? Zell's been in FH for the past year, Seifer's been in Centra with Cid and Matron, Ellone's been in Esthar, Quisty's been working… You're all I've got left." Irvine bit his lip, his violet eyes swimming. Hynedamnit, that girl knew how to make him squirm. He swallowed hard, looking down at her.

Her eyes were swimming with tears again, and she was looking up at him. He turned stiffly in her grip and lifted his hand to her face, wiping the tears away with a soft skinned thumb and nodded softly. "I'm here, Sefie. And I always will be.

"_I love you."_

_**End.**_

_**AN;; **_Thoughts? Feelings? Any feedback would be great, as I'm trying hard to get back into writing.


End file.
